Refrigerated clothes vault



March 30, 1948. s. wElss 2,438,869

REFRIGEHATED CLOTHES: VAULT Filed Oct. 26, 1946 2 Sheets-Sheet l @im y ,A

J2 T t HG. 3 5 m o 5 v 4:; n 5/ Sw 1 sf' y l' g H l' L l' INVENToR.

\ SOLO/wav WE/ss Marh 30, 1948. s. wElss REFRIGERATED CLOTHES VAU'LT.

Filed oct. 2e, 194e 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 11mm/mk. oLaMav-WE/ss 1 of insect life.l

i Patented Musso, 194s Solomon Weiss, Cleveland HeightsQOhio, assigner M. L. Waldman, and Solol mon Weiss, as partners Application October 26, 1946, Serial No. 705,8:48

(c1. ca -ss) l to Meyer M. Marcus,

' 4 Claims. l

This invention relates to clothes vaults and particularly to an air-conditioned clothes vault.

and in the direction Aof the arrowsl 6-6 of `the v Figure 4; and

Conducive to a better understanding of this in-v vention` it may be well to point out that it has long been common practice to store valuable wool and fur garments in commercial cold storage vaults during the summer season, where they are protected not only from the ravages of `insect larvae but also from the desiccating action of the summers heat.` The value of this type of storage is appreciated by everyone, but heretofore, its high cost and the inconvenience of transporting garments to a central storage vault have restricted its use. l

The primary object of this invention, therefore, is to provide s; self-contained, portable clothes vault, suitable for home use wherein garments and other articles can be stored at low temperatures unfavorable to the support and propagation fa portion of the two Figure 'I is an enlarged cross-sectional view of garment supports showing both their structure and their position in relation to the expansioncoil, taken along the line and in the direction of the arrows I`l of the Figure 5.

Referring to the drawings there is shown a clothes vault madein accordance with this invention. r

Reference character I0 in Figure 1 indicates a cabinet of approximately 20 cubic feet contents. Itis fabricated in the manner of a conventional refrigerator, having an outer metal case and an inner metal liner, spaced therefrom, to form a wall cavity approximatelyrZl/z inches wide which is filled with a suitable insulating material of low Another object is to provide a device of the type described that includes means for maintaining the relative humidity of the enclosed air, within predetermined limits, so that the protected articles will not become dce-hydrated even after prolonged storage.

These objects of the invention will become apparent from a reading of the following specification and claims together with the accompanying drawings in which thesame parts are referred to and indicated by the same reference characters and wherein;

Figure 1 is a, perspective `view of the clothes `vault constituting thi-s invention with a portion broken away to show the arrangement of stored articles within the vault;

Figure 2 is a front elevation of the device with portions broken away to show the structure of the cabinet and the relative positions of the various refrigerating and humidifying units;

thermalconductivity. An insulated dooril having a rubber sealing gasket is fitted to the cabinet in the manner of a conventional refrigeratondocr. Reference characters I8 and I9 indicate a lock and hinges respectively. 4

A thermostat 2i and a humidostat 53 are mounted on the'inside ofthe door with their indicating dials mounted on the outside of the door as shown in Figure 2. A cabinet of the type just described has outer overall dimensions of approximately 4.5 feet x 3.5 feet x 2 feet which is a size that permits it to be easily placed in the average house or apartment.

A conventional mechanical refrigerating unit having a, compressor, electric motor, condenser, receiving tank and-the usualraccessory and valves is mounted on thebottom il of the cabinet l0 within the insulated compartment 3|, which is sealed off from the interior of the cabinet. Louvers 31 pass through the side wall i3 I and vent this compartment to the outside, serving Figure 3 is `a horizontal cross-sectional view taken along the line and in the direction of the arrows 3-3 of the Figure 2; l

Figure 4 is a vertical cross-sectional view taken along the line and in the direction of the arrows 4-4 of the Figure 2, showing one of the garment carriages in an alternate extended position;

Figure 5 is a cross-sectional view, showing the garment carriages and the door in alternate open and closed positions, taken along the line and in the direction of the arrows 5-5 of the Figures 2 and 4; Figure 6 is an enlarged vertical cross-sectional view of the humidifier unit taken along the line as passageways for the escape of heat from the condenser, as shown in Figures 2, 3, and 5.

An expansion coil 32 is suspended from the top, I2, of the cabinet by means of the brackets 36 and is connected to the compressor by means of the intake and outlet pipes 34 and 35 respectively. The coil is centrally located between the two side walls i3 and il, perpendicular to the rear wall l5, thereby dividing the interior of thecabinet into two equal compartments. The expansion coil in its preferred form is fabricated from a continuous length of non-corrosive metal tubing bent backan'd forth upon itself of vertically spaced and parallel, horizontal sections of equal length, lying in the same plane o switches to form a series 2, 3 and 4. This style of coil is used because it occupies a minimum of space while at the same time presenting a maximum surface area to the enclosed air. e w

A thermostat 2l and a humidostat 33 are' mounted on the door I'l and electrically connected to the refrigerating unit by means of elec-A trical wiring not' shown in the drawings since the method of accomplishing this is well known Vto contact with the coil 32 can fall freely thru this l duct to the bottom of the cabinet where it displaces the warmer air. The displaced air circulates up thru the garments. across the top o1' the cabinet and back to the expansion coil where it is in turn cooled.

Reference character 50 in FiguresV l, 2 and 4 indicates a humidifier unit which is in the form of a. concave metal trough 5| entirely covered by a porous fabric wick 32 as shown in detail in Figure 6. The humidifier is suspended between the two screens 33 and immediately below the expansion coil 32, so that it will catch all of the water that drips oil' the expansion coil when it is defrosted. 'I'he covering 52 ismade of a flat piece oi porous wick-like fabric that is closely and continuously fitted to the inner and outer surfaces of the trough. 'I'he purpose oi'l this porous covering is to provide a large evaporating surface for the water collected by the trough so that it may be easily and quickly returnedto the atmosphere of the closed cabinet.

Two garment supports 40 are suspended from the top i2 of the cabinet as indicated in Figure 2. Each garment support comprises a pair oi spaced U-shaped channel tracks 4| with their channels faced toward each other as shown in Figures 5 and 7. These tracks are rigidly suspended from the top I3 by the metal brackets 43 so that their open ends will be positioned just below the top of the door opening, as indicated in Figures 1, 2, 4 and 7. A carriage fab-- rlcated from two U-shaped channels 42 joined by a transverse hanger bar 43 is slidably mounted within the paired tracks 4|. Garment hangers 44 are used to suspend thegarments 45 from th'e bar 43 as shown in Figure 1.

When the cabinet door is opened to the position indicated by ila in Figure 5, each carriage can be slid forward along its respective pair of tracks 4i to take the alternate position desig nated by reference character 42a. This brings the garment'fbarto the alternate position 43a, beyond the connes of the cabinet, where garments can be conveniently added to or removed from the bar. Y o

A storage compartment 23 is located on' the bottom il of the cabinet against the right end lwall I4 as illustrated in Figures 1, 2, 3 and 5. VIt is made of sheet vmetal and has a lid 24 and a vented side wall 25 which enables the cool -air from the main compartment to enter and circulate around the articles stored therein. This compartment is usedto store articles that cannot be conveniently held on hangers such as blankets, o underclothing, scarves, gloves and the like.

The clothes vault just described is operated and used in the following manner: Articles to be stored in the vault are thoroughly c'zleanedV and brushed and then placed on hangers 44 or packed in the storage compartment 23. -The garment bar 43 is pulled out to the position 43a as indicated in Figures 4 and 5 and the hangers 44 are suspended from it. The bar is then slid back into the cabinet where the garments 45 assume the position indicated in Figure 1. It will be seen that the garments are held in a position parallel to the plane of the expansion coil 32 and that `the end garments are protected lfrom contact with' the expansion coil by the screen 33,

Approximately 4 ounces of water are poured into the humidifier pan 50 whenA using avault oi the size described.

accordingly.

The door I1 is closed and locked to tampering by unauthorized persons. The thermostat 2| is manually set to maintain a temperature of 5 Fahrenheit for A24 hours; which will destroy all moth eggs that were'not removed when the garments were cleaned prior to placement in the vault. At the end of 24 hours the thermostat is reset to 40 Fahrenheit and kept atfthat point throughout th'e storage period. Since the cabinet is well4 insulated and the door prevent t gasket forms an air tight seal between the door and the cabinet wall a temperature of Fahrenheit within th'e cabinet can be easily maintained with only occasional operation of the refrigerating unit. The device will, thereforebe economical to operate. v

The thermostat thermometer on the door of the cabinet can be inspected from time to time to check on the temperature being maintained in i the cabinet.

The humidostat 53 is set for the desired humidity and its indicator dial is also available for inspection on the face o f the cabinet door as shown in Figure 2.

The 4 ounces of water which were placed in the humidiiier trough are-absorbed by the humidifier wick 52.

The humidostat `|53 is set to hold the relative humidity in the cabinet between an upper and a lower limit suitable for the articles being stored. The f our ounces of water which were placed in the humidifier pan 5i before the vault was closed is calculated to produce too high a relative humidity within the cabinet when evaporated from the wick 52. When this vapor laden warm air comes in. contact with the cold surface of the expansion coil it is cooled and itsv capacity to hold water vapor is reduced. The excess vapor condenses on the expansion coil and is held there in the form oi' frost. The humidostat is connected as a master controller over the refrigerating unit and can hold the thermostat out oi' operation until its requirements are satisfied. The manner of doing this is familiar to those skilled in the art and therefore need not be described here.

The refrlgerating unit is kept in operation by the humidostat until enough water vapor has been withdrawn from the air and deposited on the expansion coil in the form of frost to reduce the relative humidity oi' the air to the high limit setting of the humidostat, after which the thermostat is put into control and maintains the .set temperature.

Since the coil 32 is always colder than the air immediately. 'in contactwith it, it is continuously extracting water vapor from this air. Furthermore since there is a continuous slow circulation l In the case of larger orl smaller vaults the quantity of water used is varied air in the cabinet is slowly dehydrated and its relative humidity falls lower and lower. If this process were permitted to continue uninterrupted the entire 4 ounces of water added to the humid'- ifler would be deposited on the coils and the dry air would then proceed to remove the moisture from the fibers of the garments stored within .the cabinet, which would become dry andv brittle.

However, long before this state is arrived at and as soon as the relative humidity has fallen below `the lower limit setting of the humidostat the refrigerating unit is turned of! by the humidostat and the expansion coil is caused to defrost. The

melted frost drips down into the humidifier unitv 50 and is absorbed byithe wick 5I which presents a large damp evaporating surface to the dry air. The water again returns to the air as vapor and the defrosting process is permitted to go on until the relative humidity of the air rises to the low limit setting of the humidostat. The humidostat thereupon returns control of the refrigerating unit tothe thermostat which again .takes over l and makes the proper adjustments to maintain ,ment fibres are often in a dehydrated condition at the end of a winter spent in the dry atmosphere oi a steam heated apartment. n

It will now be clear that my invention provides a compact, self-contained, portable clothes vault that maintains stored garments in prime condition at a low cost.` While my invention has been disclosed in its preferred form; it is to be understood that the specific embodiment thereof as described and illustrated herein is not to be considered in a limited sense as'there may be other forms or modications of the invention which should also be construed to come within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A clothes vault comprising in combination, an insulated cabinet having spaced top, bottom, front, rear and side walls, the said front wall having an insulated door hingedly mounted thereon, an air-conditioning means including a humidifying unit and a humidostatically and thermostatically controlled refrigerating unit mounted within the said cabinet, the said refrigerating unit having a vertically extending expansion coil suspended from the top oi.' the cabinet intermediate the said side walls, the said humiditying unit having an evaporating trough disposed below and in close spaced relationship with the expansion coil, capable of collecting the drip from the expansion coil, a protective grill mounted within the cabinet around the said expansion coil in spaced relation thereto, and garment supports mounted in the cabinet proximate to the expansion coil. f

2. A clothes vault'comprising in combination, an insulated cabinet having spaced top, bottom, front. rear and side walls, the4 said front wall having an insulated door hingedly mounted thereon, an air-conditioning means including a humidifying unit and a humidostatically and thermostatically controlled refrigerating y unit mounted within the said cabinet, the said refrigerating unit having a vertically extending expansion coil suspended from the top of the cabinet intermediate the said side walls, the said humidifying unit having an evaporating trough disposed below and in close' spaced relationship with the expansion coil, capable of collecting the drip from the expansion coil, a protective grill mounted within the cabinet around the said expansion coil in spaced relation thereto, and a pair of garment supports slidably mounted on the top of the cabinet proximate either side of the vertical expansion coil, capable of forward horizontal movement beyond the confine of the cabinet Y when the cabinet door is open` 3. A clothes vault oi the typel defined in claim 2 and further characterized by each garment support having a pair of spaced horizontal tracks suspended from the top wall of the cabinet between the expansion coil and one of the said side walls, and parallel thereto, and a carriage including a transverse hanger bar, slidably mounted on the said tracks and capable of horizontal movement along the said tracks beyond the connes of the cabinet when the cabinet door is open.

4. A clothes vault, comprising in combination,

an insulated cabinet having spaced top. bottom,

front, rear and side walls, the said front wall having an insulated door` hingedly mounted thereon, an air conditioning means including a humiditying unit and a humidostatically and thermostatically controlled refrigerating unit mounted within the said cabinet, the said reirigerating unit having a vertically extending expansion coil suspended from the top .of the cabinet intermediate the said side walls, the said humidifying unit havf ing an evaporating trough ,disposed below and inclose spaced relationship with the expansion coil, capable of collecting the drip from the expansion coil, the said evaporxalting trough having a covering of porous material of relatively large surface area, and garment supports mounted in the cabinet proximate to the expansion coil.

SOLOMON WEISS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references vare or record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Bennington ---1.--- Mar. so, 194s 

